


Once More (For Old Time's Sake)

by ladyhoneydarlinglove



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, M/M, Pre-Recall, Relationship Study, Valentine's Day, kind of, mostly it's just Gabriel suffering with his feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 12:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9726371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyhoneydarlinglove/pseuds/ladyhoneydarlinglove
Summary: Gabriel kind of hates Jack now, but he still kind of love him too.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as a piece for Valentine's Day and it ended up as just being a character study with candy. Enjoy!

It takes Gabriel about ten years to break through Jack’s thick skull and apparent obliviousness to any and all types of flirting, but when he does, Jack takes to their newly founded relationship with gusto. Gabriel’s thrilled, and finally gets to confirm his suspicions that Jack Morrison—in all his blonde haired, blue eyed, Midwestern farm boy glory—is definitely a hopeless romantic at heart.

“If we’re gonna go this, we’re doing it right,” Jack tells him. “I don’t half-ass anything, especially not relationships.”

They have to fudge things a little, in the beginning. The Omnic Crisis still raging around them makes it hard for those traditional dinner-and-a-movie dates, but they make it work, somehow. It’s scattered moments where time allows; sometimes all they manage is a quiet shared movement over morning coffee before they’re out on the front lines again, leading the world in its struggle against the omnics. But Jack is nothing if not stubborn, and if he’s hellbent on making sure they get in all the proper romantic nuances of a relationship, Gabriel’s not going to be the one to stop him.

The war gives them a variety of unique locations to work with, if nothing else. They share a kiss on top of the Eiffel Tower before taking down Paris’ omnium. They smoke hashish and drink thick Arabic coffee in Cairo, then spend three weeks helping Ana’s old unit confine Anubis. They take a leisurely stroll along the Great Wall before rallying with the Chinese army to repel a Bastion assault. They make little moments and memories all over the world, whenever they can, wherever they can.

There’s gifts, too. Jack brings Gabriel flowers, somehow managing to figure out how much Gabriel likes irises. Gabriel retaliates by feeding Jack’s secret sweet tooth and plying him with chocolate and candy. They try to be discreet, but it’s hard to contain the extra worry that comes with seeing your partner wounded on the battlefield, and it’s barely two months before the Strike Team finds out. They suffer an endless teasing at the hands of their friends, and far too much unsolicited advice (Ana’s is the worst; she knows exactly what to say to get both of them blushing furiously and stammering like children), but it’s all in good fun. And it’s encouraging, in a way, to know love can bloom even in the darkest of hours.

* * *

It gets harder as the war wears on.  


There’s no time anymore. Updates and missions are constant, and the higher Jack and Gabriel climb in the ranks, the more burdens they shoulder until all of the newly formed Overwatch is under their command. They still share what nights they can together, but more often than not, they find themselves at opposite ends of the globe, mired in the war. The honeymoon phase they managed to keep up for so long begins to wane. Things become strained.

The death keel happens when Gabriel officially forms Blackwatch. Jack always knew Gabriel resented not being promoted to Strike Commander, and they’d managed to work around it, somehow. Gabriel gives credit to Jack’s stubbornness and refusal to let Gabriel stew in his emotions, forcibly pulling him out with a confession that went something along the lines of, “Hey dumbass, guess what? I kind of love you.” And since Gabriel kind of loves Jack too, he makes himself get over it, as best he can.

But being Blackwatch Commander puts Gabriel on equal but separate footing, and his and Jack’s work spreads farther and farther apart. There’s no time left to share. Jack, to his credit, tries. He keeps in touch, calls to make sure Gabriel’s doing fine (Gabriel never is, but he also never lets Jack know). He tries to set up dates and times that will work for both of their strained and busy schedules, but Blackwatch missions require Gabriel’s full attention and it seems he can never spare a moment. He keeps having to cancel, always promising that next time, next time they’ll make it work.

They never do, and eventually, Jack stops trying. Everything built up between them begins its rapid descent, shared moments and soft smiles turning into snide comments and sharp barbs. Jack grows rigid, and Gabriel grows distant. The barbs turn to shouts, and whatever good memories they had left begin to fade. They feed and feed and feed off each other’s anger until it all comes crashing down, in a fight that leaves Jack with three cracked ribs and Gabriel with a broken nose.

Gabriel leaves the Swiss HQ in a fury, and doesn’t return for nearly a year. Ana eventually coaxes him back, convinces them both to try and make things better. They apologize, but in the end, they never make up.

* * *

Hannah Blumenfeld was exceptionally unremarkable for a Blackwatch agent, so much so that Gabriel barely remembers anything about her other than her mean right hook and her affinity for ferrets. But she died in the line of duty, on his watch, and Gabriel has never missed an agent’s funeral yet.  


It’s a small affair—her family, a handful of friends, and Gabriel—held in her hometown on Mackinac Island, Michigan. Gabriel offers the condolences to Hannah’s family and gives a small speech as part of the eulogy. When he speaks to them privately afterwards, he offers commendations as her Commanding Officer and assures them she was a well-regarded soldier in Overwatch’s ranks. (That’s always been the worst part of Blackwatch, and Gabriel can never quite quell the wave of nausea that overtakes him as he lies to grieving families about the role his agents played for Overwatch.)

When it’s over, Gabriel finds himself restlessly wandering the pastel streets of Mackinac Island, the serene beauty and calm crawling over his skin and making him horribly uncomfortable. Gabriel doesn’t belong in places like this anymore; he’s too tainted, his conscious cracked, his heart cold, his hands stained with blood. But he can’t stand the thought of sitting idle in his hotel room either, so he keeps wandering, and wandering, and wandering.

His feet direct him to Jack’s favorite fudge shop, still in business after all these years. Gabriel feels a pang as he stares at the window display, unbidden memories of happier times floating to the forefront of his mind. When they’d finished taking care of the Omnium in Detroit, Jack dragged Gabriel to Mackinac Island for a romantic weekend getaway. It was dumb and kitschy and touristy nearly to a fault, but Gabriel couldn’t complain when the island made Jack light up, a veritable kid in a candy store. The metaphor rang even more true when Jack made Gabriel indulge his sweet tooth and took him fudge shopping.

Gabriel didn’t like sweets—still doesn’t—but he’d eaten the fudge just to see the radiant smile Jack made when he did. It’s been years since Jack’s smiled the way he did back then, when they were young and in love and kind of stupid.

Evidently, Gabriel’s still kind of stupid, because against every better judgement he can hurl at himself, he buys some fudge.

* * *

Jack barely glances up when Gabriel enters his office. “Yes?” he greets. His voice grates against Gabriel’s nerves, rough and gravelly after years of barking orders and shouting across battlefields.  


It’s hard to tell sometimes whether age has been good to Jack. His hairline is undeniably receding but the dirty blonde mixes well with the newly sprouted white. The dark circles under his eyes never fade, and those baby blues are dull and cold. But his chin is still held high in pride and just a touch of defiance, and the wrinkles aren’t as bad as they could be, despite all that Jack’s lived through. He’d look better if he smiled more, but Gabriel hasn’t seen Jack’s mouth move from its deep seated frown in months. It deepens the creases at the corners, makes his face seem longer than it is.

Any other time, Gabriel would relish in nitpicking at Jack’s aging, if only to distract himself from the fact that he fares little better, and in all likelihood, even worse. Today, he pushes his bitterness and resentment to the side, and tries to conjure up memories of happier times. Their first date, which was actually a mission gone awry that ended up with them jumping out of transport sharing one parachute. Their first real date, a nice dinner that got interrupted when omnics broke through the blockade in Juneau and they were immediately shipped out for three miserable months in Alaska. Their first real completed date, which was really just them sharing a pizza and some beers in a hotel room while they watched cheesy romance movies, because it was Valentine’s Day and that was all that was on FX.

“Hey,” Gabriel answers. “I have something for you.”

Jack’s brow furrows, but he doesn’t look up from his datapad. “Wasn’t aware you ran another mission already,” he mutters, agitation lacing his words.

Gabriel bites back the urge to snap at him, clutches the box of fudge tightly in his hand to ground himself. “I meant a gift,” he says, trying to keep his voice level.

Jack pauses, blinking slowly. Gabriel can almost see the cogs in his brain struggling to turn. “A… gift,” Jack repeats, like he doesn’t understand the words. He looks up now, brow still furrowed, but he looks more confused than angry, so Gabriel’s counting it as a victory.

“Yeah. You know, stuff you get for people you like?” Gabriel tries to smile, but it comes out as more of a grimace; he thinks his facial muscles might have forgotten how. Annoyance begins to creep back onto Jack’s face, so Gabriel sighs and continues, “Here. From that fudge shop in Michigan you used to like.”

He sets the box of fudge down in front of Jack, who stares at it like Gabriel just dropped a ticking bomb on his desk. “When were you in Michigan?” he asks.

“An agent’s funeral,” Gabriel answers shortly. “She was from the same town.”

“You still go to the funerals?” It could have been a loaded question—they’ve started shouting matches and fights over far less. But Jack’s voice lacks its usual sarcasm, the edge of anger, and the undercurrent of defiance. It’s a question, and nothing more. Like they’re actually having a civil conversation.

“All of them,” Gabriel says. Something flash briefly across Jack’s face, and he quickly adds, “But my team’s a lot smaller. Don’t think I could manage it if I was commanding thousands.”

Jack hums in response. The lines around his face soften, ever so slightly, and Gabriel thinks he might even see the corners of Jack’s mouth twitch as he opens the box of fudge. “You remembered what flavors I like,” he observes. He almost— _ almost— _ sound amused.

“Well, you wouldn’t shut up about them the first time we went. It was kind of hard to forget.”

Jack picks up a piece, squints at it like he still can’t believe what he’s seeing. “You want one?” he asks.

Gabriel shakes his head. “Nah. I never liked that stuff. Too sweet for me.”

“Oh yeah. Didn’t I almost dump you for saying that?”

“You tried, until I pointed out that you liked flour tortillas better than corn, so we were even.”

A noise escapes Jack; more than a breath, not quite a laugh. The sound wraps itself around Gabriel’s heart and squeezes painfully. He takes a measured step back, wanting to leave here, before the fragile balance breaks, and they’re back to clawing at each other’s throats. “Well, enjoy,” he says.

He manages three steps towards the door before Jack pipes up, “What are you doing tonight?”

Gabriel pauses. Turns around. Blinks. “Mission reports and then crashing,” he answers, trying not to sound as confused as he feels. “Why?”

Jack clears his throat. His gaze darts to the side for a second before coming back up to look with Gabriel’s. “Would you… maybe want to grab some dinner together?”

Gabriel stares. All the control and super soldier serum in the world can’t stop his heart from pounding in his chest as he takes in Jack, stressed and overworked and angry and bitter and just barely managing to hold the hint of a smile as he looks back at Gabriel, waiting patiently for his answer.

It shouldn’t be enough. It shouldn’t be enough to erase all the fights, the insults, the anger and resentment. It shouldn’t be enough to make Gabriel forget how often Jack talks down to him these days, disregards his opinions and advice, because Jack doesn’t trust Gabriel anymore. It shouldn’t be enough to make Gabriel push away his rage, his fury, the defiance and insubordination he pulls just to make Jack angry. It shouldn’t be enough to silence the part of Gabriel that hates Jack just that much.

But it is.

“Yeah. Yeah, sure.”

(It will be the last one they ever share.)


End file.
